Making A's in College: What Smart Students Know: The Study-Professor's Guide by Gibson James R. & Gibson Sandra U

Author:Gibson, James R. & Gibson, Sandra U. [Gibson, James R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Workbooks Press
Published: 2013-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The PART Reading System—How to Learn More in Less Time

Think back to the last time you read a chapter in a textbook.

Did you remember what you had read by the next day's class? Maybe you even read it a second time . . . but still had trouble recalling the new information you were trying to learn.

Or, worse—have you spent time reading a difficult passage, and suddenly realized that you had no idea what you’d just read ? That’s disconcerting, and it is a big waste of your time.

You’re going to have so much reading to do in college, most of it new material and much of it difficult, that it will pay you to spend some time learning how to read effectively .

"But," you may say, "I already know how to read. I’ve known since the first grade."

Most People Can REALLY Improve Their Reading With A Little Work

Unfortunately, most students learn to read early in school and don’t get any instruction in reading techniques in later grades.

But the difficulty and sheer volume of what you’re expected to read just goes up and up!

Further, today we live in such a high-speed digital culture that many students have never spent enough time reading for it to be an easy, automatic, or pleasant experience.

All college students can read, of course, but many don’t enjoy it . . . and aren’t very good at it because no one has shown them how to improve.

Now that you’re in college, the truth is that mediocre reading ability won’t be good enough.

If you know that you already have trouble reading, you’ll do much better in college if you can improve this vital skill before you start classes.

(And, if you have serious trouble reading, many colleges have reading labs with experts who can work with you and assess your particular problems.)

What’s more, if you are an average or good reader, you’ll still find that the techniques we discuss in this chapter will make you an even better, more efficient, reader.

What is Reading, Really?

Reading, physically, is moving your eyes along a line of text while your brain decodes the meaning. That’s what you want to happen. You want your brain to take in the meaning of the words—and remember it.

But many students don't really complete the process of reading. Instead, they assume that if they’ve simply run their eyes over a printed line , they’ve read the material.

This, as you certainly know, really isn’t reading . Reading a textbook, or chapter, or paper, means that you have understood that new material.

Understanding and remembering are really what you’re after as you read. So, running your eyes over the printed page is important, but it’s only part of the process.

The fact is that getting the most from reading, and remembering it, requires a lot of ability. You’ll have thousands of pages to read as you go through college and you can’t afford to approach this daunting task with inferior skills.

It’s Not Getting Any Easier

Students today face a new kind of reading problem that their parents didn't confront.

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